hotelcaelum | Event Log #004

EVENT LOG
number 004

Happy New Year, folks! The Hotel is settling into the New Year with little fanfare. Mr Bennet remains at his post behind the hotel desk and helps check guests in and out daily. The Hotel continues to hustle and bustle and nothing seems to be going too awry beyond the usual shenanigans. In fact, one might even call this the slow season for the Hotel.

THE FLOOR IS LAVA

That is until the second week of the month where the intercoms start with Mr Bennet's pleasant voice coming through.

"Hello, hello! This is just a small warning that one of our floors, the current 79th floor to be exact, has had a small... malfunction, I suppose, and will be affecting the other floors of the Hotel. No word yet from maintenance when this will be over, so stay on your toes, my dear guests!"

And that's it. No indication of what the problem is, or anything like that. It's up to you to figure out what's going on! And what is going on? Well, it'll become obvious very quickly when wherever characters happen to be in the Hotel, they'll soon start feeling a very obvious warmth on the floor below them. It'll increase the longer they stay standing in one spot until it's almost burning their feet.

The only salve for this will be hopping onto a nearby piece of furniture and getting their feet off the floor. It'll soon become obvious that the entire Hotel has been wrapped in a game of The Floor is Lava, including the floor turning into actual lava on some of the floors.

SAFETY SLEEPOVER

Of course, the Hotel is not cruel enough to make the entire Hotel unsafe and soon enough Mr Bennet's voice will come through on the intercom again.

"For those looking for respite from our current Hotel wide game," because clearly it's a game now. "We'll be serving tea and cake in the lounge on the ground floor. Maintenance has been able to fix the lounge for now so feel free to come by when you can if you'd like to rest. We have sleeping bags!"

As folks enter the lounge, they'll find that Mr Bennet is true to his word. The lounge has been converted into a giant sleepover, with sleeping bags lining the floor and a long table off to the side where people can eat their tea and cakes. Mr Bennet is near the food table, handing out pajamas, toothbrushes, and sleep masks to those who request them. There's some new doors off to the side leading to some restrooms, at least, so guests can change in private.

Though, one thing to point out is when Mr Bennet says there's tea and cakes, the cakes happen to be lava cakes. He thinks he's funny.

THE FLOOR IS ICE

It'll take about two days for hotel maintenance to fix the Hotel and return it to normal. So that's two days of living out of the lounge or hopping around the Hotel to get places. What a headache. Mr Bennet will make another lively announcement on the intercom.

"We are back in business, folks! I've just been given word that everything should have return to normal now. Though, there is a warning to make sure not to walk around barefoot for at least another day or so while the Hotel settles. Thank you for your patience!"

What that means becomes obvious soon as anyone walking around now will feel that the floor is especially cold. That's a bit better than the heat, at least, but still kind of a pain in the ass. Anyone who tries to walk around barefoot will find that their feet quickly start to freeze but any permanent damage is easily avoidable by putting on some socks or getting off the floor entirely.

Though that said, the ice does lead to some furniture sliding around and even with shoes on, characters might find themselves sliding too.

What a lovely end to the holidays.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ is it strange to find it symbolic? the steady movement of everything that makes her... her... through the maw in the wall, absorbed into Henry. don't think about it.

don't.

she hooks her finger over his. ]

I will be back.

[The gesture makes him finally glance at her, that little mote of connection.]

Okay. I believe you.

[(He will try very hard to.) Despite himself, he offers a faint, wan smile.]

I know you think I'm being ridiculous. I just don't want another repeat of the past.

[ painful. ]

Do not put words in my mouth. I do not think that. I think... you are very hurt man.

[Ah, and that smile fades. As always, he finds himself looking for the right words when she calls him out like this.

"Very hurt." Neither acknowledges or denies this with-]

You mean because I've lost so much.

[ she won't let him go that easily. ]

And because I am hurting you. Henry.

You’re not doing anything unreasonable.

[He is at least rational enough to admit to that.

Still, how is it that he sometimes feels so opened up and raw around her?]

It’s just… the last girl I— [pause] —liked ended up disappearing from my life. Through no fault of her own. Even so, it’s hard not to draw parallels.

[ looks down at him, eye contact for the first time in several minutes. there was another girl? ]

When you were at this laboratory?

[A sound of disbelief.]

The lab? No. [gross.] Before that. Someone I met shortly after my family moved to Hawkins.

When you were young.

Yes. When I was just a freshman in high school. A first year.

...I didn't know that.

I didn't have a reason to bring it up until now. It was a long time ago, anyway. And like you said... I was much younger.

[And yet some things are still very affecting. Patty had been the only person in his life who cared, who was willing to help him. And then, just like that, one day she was out of his life.]

[ this feels inextricably unkind, now, though she can't possibly change her mind. she has to go back, and she has to go back tomorrow. ]

What happened?

[She loses his gaze again as Henry drifts his attention back to the items marching through the void in the wall.]

Back then, I had trouble controlling my powers. I didn't know what to do with them; I thought they made me something terrible.

[As opposed to now, where he knows the truth: they make him extraordinary.]

She helped me understand them a little more. Tried to help me see myself as something that wasn't broken, unlike everyone else. But Brenner... [A pause, lowly-] Brenner saw me as a tool, an unrefined weapon, with the ability to unearth things unknown to the scientific world. He claimed to want to help, too, and there were times when I actually believed him. But I eventually saw him for what he was.

[There's plenty else he could recite from those days long past. A part of Henry simply does not want to, and so she gets a truncated version:]

But when my family wanted to give me away to him, I decided to run. I wanted to take Patty with me. But Papa was right there at my heels, and- [A wan grin.] Well. I was too emotional -- my powers hurt her. I passed out, and then I woke up in the lab. And from what I could gather, she had moved away from Hawkins shortly after.

So. There and gone. It's funny how quickly someone's life can change in a day. But I guess you'd know about that, too.

[ a horrible chill goes down her spine at the words "unrefined weapon", because she can only imagine what this man, this "Papa" would see fit to do to refine. her touch twitches. ]

...I do know.

[ she leans over and, haltingly, bends to kiss him. ]

[Maybe someday, he'll tell her what life in that lab was like. What the experiments and exercises were like for him, and then for the children that came after him.

But for now, she's leaning in for a kiss, and of course, of course he doesn't pull away. He kisses back, softly at first, and then fervently -- like it might be the last kiss he receives from her for a while. Like he's already longing.]

[ like she's already gone.

Sprezzatura, for her part, keeps it gentle, and chaste, even as he leans into it with more and more fervour. she keeps seeing that figure—the lich, Vecna. but she sees Henry, too, and that's the rub. ]

Mm.

[A kiss is still a kiss. It's better than nothing. Better than her leaving without him receiving one at all.

She'll have to be the one to pull away. But when she does... the gesture seems to have been some kind of balm to his spirit.]

I won't be the only one who'll miss you, you know.